Lord, teach us how to pray aright
with reverence and with fear;
though dust and ashes in thy sight,
we may, we must, draw near.

We perish if we cease from prayer:
O grant us power to pray;
and, when to meet thee we prepare,
Lord, meet us by the way.

   James Montgomery

“Lord, teach us to pray.” What a funny thing to say. It’s what the disciples asked of Jesus, but goodness, didn’t they already know how to pray? Didn’t their mother teacher them how to pray like my mother taught me? Maybe their mothers did teach them, and maybe that’s the last thing they ever learned about prayer.  Maybe they were still trying to pray as adults the way they had prayed when they were five-years-old.

The church has been good about telling people they should pray. We haven’t been as good about teaching people how to pray. If you ask people what prayer is, they are likely to say, “it’s talking to God.” Talking with God might be a better answer because prayer is being in the presence of God. It’s not just us babbling to God, but being open to God’s Word to us.

I have spent the past 20 years trying to understand prayer so could deepen my own prayer life and perhaps share something of what I’ve discovered. In the weeks ahead I’ll be sharing some of what I have learned about prayer. A warning: The first devotion is being published on the blog before the last one is written. I  know where it’s going, but I’m not sure how it’s going to get there. But then, that’s a lot like prayer itself. You know it brings you to God, but how is always a mystery. You have to pay attention to mystery.

Read Matthew 6:1-5, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne